Pfizer Move To Block Generic Lipitor Attracts FTC
There is nothing like a deal with a pharmacy benefit manager to generate intrigue. The recent arrangements that Pfizer struck with several PBMs and health plans to block prescriptions for generic versions of its best-selling Lipitor cholesterol pill are prompting all sorts of reactions, from outrage to confusion. Some pharmacists, for instance, are angry because […]
Read More »Category : News
Novartis Pays $150M To Settle Pricing Fraud
In the latest instance of pharmaceutical fraud, the Sandoz unit of Novartis earlier this week agreed to pay $150 million to settle lawsuits filed by the states of Florida and California, as well as a whistleblower, to settle charges that it deliberately misreported pricing information in order to hike reimbursements from Medicaid. This is only […]
Read More »Category : News
Novartis staff on strike over job cuts
Employees working at the Nyon-Prangins site of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis went on strike on Wednesday over the firm’s decision to close the factory and slash over 300 jobs. “Production has stopped. This morning, the machines were no longer working and there is also strong mobilisation in the research division,” Jean Kunz from Swiss union […]
Read More »Category : News
Stem cell trial halted
The world’s first official trial using human embryonic stem cells in patients has been halted. Geron, based in California, made the sudden announcement that it was halting further work in this field. In a statement the company said in the “current environment of capital scarcity and uncertain economic conditions” it had decided to concentrate instead […]
Read More »Category : News
Obama, A Billionaire Donor & A No-Bid Contract
What happens when you cross a billionaire, who controls a small biotech with a smallpox drug and who donates lots of money to politicians, with a White House that is pushing biodefense measures? You may get a questionable no-bid contract awarded to the little biotech to supply an experimental vaccine for a threat that may […]
Read More »Category : News
Heart Stopping News For Sanofi & Its Sales Reps
In the latest blow to Sanofi, the final results of a study confirm that its Multaq heart med increases rates of heart failure, stroke and death from cardiovascular causes in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation who were at risk for major vascular events. Known as the Pallas trial, the study had been stopped last July […]
Read More »Category : News
Clinical Investigator In FDA Hot Water for Not Opening Mail
When doctors and researchers sign up to participate in a clinical trial, they are expected to do a few basic things. Among them is keeping up to date with the clinical trial doings. One way to accomplish this is to open the mail. But not everyone does. As a result, one investigator was forced to […]
Read More »Category : News
FDA Debars Doc In Pfizer Research Scandal
Do you remember Scott Reuben? He was accused of faking research for a dozen years in published studies suggesting after-surgery benefits from Vioxx and Celebrex. Last year, he was sentenced to six months in jail plus three years supervised release after pleading guilty to fraud. The former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center […]
Read More »Category : News
FDA cites 1,200 tobacco retailers
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it has issued about 1,200 warning letters to retailers in 15 states for violating federal tobacco regulations since beginning inspections under a 2009 law giving it authority to regulate the industry. The agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, using state contractors, has conducted more than 27,500 inspections of stores […]
Read More »Category : News
Abbott, A Clinical Trial And A Doctor’s Allegiance
drugmakers that are battling claims a med caused someone harm is to use a doctor as a shield. In legal parlance, this is known as the learned intermediary doctrine, which, basically, states that a drugmaker has fulfilled its responsibility for providing all necessary information to a doctor, who then interacts with a patient. But Abbott […]
Read More »Category : News
